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DEUTSCHLANDUBER ALLAH

BY

E. F. BENSON

HODDER AND STOUGHTONLONDON NEW YORK TORONTO

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DEUTSCHLAND UBER ALLAH

DEUTSCHLANDUBER ALLAH

BY

E. F. BENSON

HODDER AND STOUGHTONLONDON NEW YORK TORONTO

DEUTSCHLAND UBER ALLAH

IT was commonly said at the beginning of thiswar thai, whatever Germany's military resources

might be, she was hopelessly and childishlylacking in diplomatic ability and in knowledge oipsychology, from which all success in diplomacyis distilled. As instances of this grave defectpeople adduced the fact that apparently she hadnot anticipated the entry of Great Britain into tin-war at all, while her treatment of Belgiumimmediately afterwards was universally pronouncednot to be a crime merely, but a blunder of thestupidest sort. It is perfectly true that Germanydid not understand, and, as seems likely in the lightof innumerable other atrocities, never will under-stand, the psychology of civilised peoples ; she hasnever shown any signs up till now, at any rate, of" having got the hang of it " at all. But critics of herdiplomacy failed to seethe root-fact that she did notunderstand it merely because it did not interest her.It was not worth her while to master the psychologyof other civilised nations, since she was out not tounderstand them but to conquer them. She had allthe information she wanted about their armies andnavies and guns and ammunition neatly and correctlytabulated. Why, then, since this was all that con-cerned her, should she bother her head about what

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2 DEUTSCHLAND UBER All All.

they might feel on the subject t gas-attacks or thetorpedoing of neutral ships without warning? Aslong as her fumes were deadly ami her submarinessubtle, nothing further concerned her'.

Inn Europe generally made a great mistake insupposing that she could not learn psychology andthe process t its distillation into diplomacy when itinterested her. The psychology of the French amiEnglish was a useless study, for she was merelygoing t fight them, hut for years she had 1m , nStudying with an industry and a patience that putour diplomacy to shame as was most swiftly and

iminiously proven when it came into conflict withhers) the psychology ol the Turks. For years shehad watched the dealings ol the Great Powers withTurkey, but she had never really associated hersellwith that policy. She sat quietly by and saw howit worked. Briefly it was this. \-\>r a hundredyears Turkey had been a Si< k Man, ami for ahundred years he had been kept alive in Europe bytin- sedulous attentions "I the Physician-Powers,who dared not let him die tor tear of the stupendousquarrels which would instantly arise over his < orpse.So there they all sat round his bed, and kept himalive with injections ol strychnine ami oxygen and,no less, by a policy oi rousing and irritating thepatient. All through the reign of Abdul Hamidthey persevered: Greal Britain plucked his pillowfrom him. so to speak, by her protectorate of Egypt

;

Russia tweaked Eastern Rumelia from him; Franci a ( German officer, ( )olonel von Hoff. In its cla(derneks) boys an- trained in military practices,in "a recreational manner," so thai they enjoy

positively enjoy (a Prussian touch)- tin- exerut has dominated ; a year ago townslike Aleppo were crammed with German officers,while al Islahie there were separate wooden barracksfor the exclusive use of German troops. There isa military mission at Mamoura, where all the buildingsarc permanent erections solidly built of stone, for no

merely temporary occupation is intended, andthousands of freight-cars with Belgian marks uponthem throng the railways, and on some is thesignificant German title of "Military Headquarlof the Imperial Staff." There are troops in theTurkish army to which is given the title of " Pashaformation," in compliment to Turkey, but the Pashaformations arc under the command of Baron Kress\ i m Kressenstein, and are salted with < ierman officers,N.C.O.s, ana* privates, who, although in the Turkisharmy, retain their (ierman uniforms.

This (ierman leaven tonus an instructionals for the remainder of the troops in these

formations, who are Turkish. The Germans areurged to respect Moslem customs and to showparticular consideration for their religious ob

vances. Every (ierman contingent arriving att stantinople to join the Pasha formations findsquarters prepared on a ship, and when the troopsleave for their " destination " they take supplies fromdepots at the railway station which will last them two

or three months. They are enjoined to write wardiaries, and are provided with handbooks on themilitary and ge< (graphical conditions in Mesopotamia,

DEUTSCHLAND LJBER ALLAH. mwith maps, and with notes on the training and manmenl oi camels. Tins looks as if they were intend* dfor use against the English troops in Mesopotamia,but I cannot find that they have been identifiedthere. The greatest secrecy is observed with r< ito these Pasha Formations, and their constitutionand movements are kept extremely veiled.

Wireless stations have been sel up in Asia Minorand Palestine, and these are under the command ofMajor Schlee. A Turkish air-service was instituti d,.it the head of which was Major Serno, a Prussianofficer. At Constantinople there is a naval schoolfor Turkish engineers and mechanics in the arsenal,to help on the Pan-Turkish ideal, and with a view-to that all the instructors arc German. Similarlyby the spring of this year Germany had arranged tostart submarine training in Constantinople for theTurks, and a submarine school was open and atwork in March. Other naval cadets were sent toGermany for their training, and Turkish offiiwere present at the battle of Jutland in June, 1916,and of course were decorated by the Emperor inperson lor their coolness and courage.

A complete revision of the Turkish system ofexemption from military service was necessary assoon as Germany began to want men badly. Tinage for military service was first raised, and we finda Turkish order of October, 1916, calling on all menof forty -three, forty-four, and forty-five years of ageto pay their exemption tax if they did not wish to becalled to the Colours. That secured their money,and, with truly Prussian irony, hardly had this beendone when a fresh Army order was issued calling

is DEUTSCH1 WD UBER Al I \II.out all men whether they had paid their exemptiontax or Me!. Still more men were needed, and inNovember a in :sh levy pi boys was raised regardlessol whether they had reached the military age or not.This absorbed the senior class of tin- boy scouts,who hitherto had learned their drill in a " recreation-ary manner." ain the Prussian Moloch washungry for more, and in December the TurkishGazette announced that all males in Asia Minorbetween the ages ol fourteen and sixty-five wen- tobe enrolled lor military service, and in [anuary olthis year, i o i 7 , fresh recruiting was foreshadowedby tin' ord.r that men of forty-six to liltv-two whohad paid their exemption money should he medicallyexamined to see it they were lit for active service.Wider and wider the net was spread, and in the samemonth a fresh Turco-German convention was signedwherehy was enforced a reciprocal surrender in bothcountries of persons liable to military service, and ofdeserters, and simultaneously all Turks living inSwitzerland who had paid exemption money wererecalled to their Germanised fatherland. Bynowthefust crops oi the year were ripening in Smyrna, andin default of civilian labour (for everyone was nowa soldier) they were reaped hv Turkish soldiers andthe produce sent direct to Germany.

Already in August, 1 91 6, certificates of Ottomannationality had been granted to Serbians resident inthe Empire who were willing to become Ottomansubjects, and their "willingness" was intensifiedby hints that incidents akin to the Armenianmassacres mighl possibly occur among other alien

pie. They had to sign a declaration that

DEUTSCHLAND UBER ALLAH. 13they would not revert to their former nationality,.iikI thus no doubl many Serbs passed into theImkisli army. Furthei enrolments were desirable,and in March, 191 7. all Greeks living in Anatoliawen- forcibly proselytised, their property was con-

fiscated, and they were made liable to militaryservice. Unfortunately all were nol available, for ofthose who were removed from the villages wherethey lived to military centres ten per cent, died onthe forced marches from hunger and exposure.That was annoying for the German recruiting agents,but it suited well enough the Pan-Turkish ideal ofexterminating foreign nationalities. When troubleor discontent occurred among the troops it wasfirmly dealt with, as, for instance, when in November,1 916, there were considerable desertions from the49th Division. On that occasion the order wasgiven to fire on them, and many were killed andwounded. The officer who gave the order wascommended by the Prussian authorities for hisfirmness. Should such an incident occur again, itwill no doubt be dealt with with no less firmness,for in April, 191 7, Mackensen was put in supremecommand of all troops in Asia Minor. Simul-taneously in Berlin Prince Zia-ed-Din, the TurkishSultan's heir, presented a sword of honeur to theSultan William II. Probably he gave him goodnews of the progress of the German harbourworks begun in the winter at Stamboul, andhimself learned that the railway bridge which theTurks proposed to build over the Bosphorus was notto be proceeded with, for the German high commandhad superseded that scheme by their own idea of

iIDEC IM III WD UBER \M Ml

making .1 tunnel under the Bosphorus instead, whichwould be safer from aircraft.

Such up to date, though in brief outline, is thehistory oi the progress ol the Prussian octopus inTurkish military and naval matters. In October,[914, just before Turkey came into the war. sin- hadbees mobilising lor three months, while Enver Pashacontinued successfully convincing our Ambassadorin Constantinople of his sincere and unshakablefriendship for England, and had 800,000 men underarms. Already, ol course, German influence wasstrong in the army, which now was thoroughlytrained in German methods, bul thai army might stillbe called a Turkish army. Nowadays by no stretchol language can it be called Turkish except in so farthat all Turkish efficient manhood is enlisted in it, forthere is no branch or department of it over whichthe Prussian octopus has not thrown its paralysingtentacles and affixed its immovable suckers. Armyand naw alike, its wireless stations, its submarines,its aircraft, are all directly controlled from Berlin,and, as we have seen, the generalissimo of the foiis Mackensen, who is absolutely the Hindenburg ofthe East. Hut thorough as is the control oi Berlinover Constantinople in military and naval matters,it is not one whit more thorough than her controlin all other matters oi national life. Never beforehas Germany been very successful in her colonisa-tions ; hut if complete domination the sucking l acountry till it is a mere rind ol itself, and vet at thesame time lull to bursting "I Prussian ichor mayhe taken as Germany's equivalent of colonisation,tlnn indeed we must he forced t" recognise her

DEUTSCHLAND UBER \l.l\lf 15success. And if was all done in the name and forthe sake oi the Pan-Turkish ideall Even nowPrussian Pecksniffs like Herr Ernsl Marre, whos